WEAMEC

WEAMEC (for WEst Atlantic Marine Energy Community) federates the vibrant Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) ecosystem of “Pays de la Loire” French Region, in the fields of Research, Innovation & Training

WEAMEC (WEst Atlantic Marine Energy Community) combines more than 30 institutes and labs with major players such as Centrale Nantes, Nantes University, Jules Verne Research Institute, CEA Tech, or Université Gustave Eiffel for example.

The WEAMEC ecosystem is further boosted by the involvement of more than 90 companies in MRE challenges with major players in ship building (Chantiers de l’Atlantique…), energy providers (EDF, ENGIE), turbine and integrated MRE device developers and manufacturers (GE) or major component manufacturers (ROLLIX which exports gears worldwide), and a lot of small and medium firms mainly federated in NEOPOLIA MRE cluster… 

WEAMEC was founded by Centrale Nantes and its main partners: the University of Nantes, the PMBA cluster, and the Jules Verne Institute of Research and Technology. It also benefits from the support of the Regional Council of the Pays de la Loire, the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), Nantes Métropole, and the CARENE (Saint-Nazaire and Estuary Regional Urban Community).

 

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TEST FACILITIES

UNIQUE TEST FACILITIES

Another strength of the WEAMEC ecosystem is the addition of substantial, unique, internationally renowned tests facilities for MRE Research and Development. Some of them are mainly dedicated to MRE and more generally to marine studies, like SEM-REV, a Multi MRE technology Offshore Test Site, completed by wave tank equipped with wind, and towing tanks operated by Centrale Nantes.

But you can also find other facilities which are not devoted to MRE, but which can bring major significant contributions for their developments like: the centrifuge at Université Gustave Eiffel, the CSTB wind tunnel, the mechanical test bench at Université Gustave Eiffel, the CEA Tech energy system test benches…

 

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RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

WEAMEC ROAD MAP

At the initiative of the Regional Council of the Pays de la Loire, academic and companies actors in the fields of research, training and innovation worked to define a common strategy for structuring and further developing the dynamics of the regional MRE sector. WEAMEC and its partners have a Research & Innovation roadmap.

> Read this roadmap

The WEAMEC is positioned at every stage of the MRE cycle, from preliminary studies to the management and operation of wind farms.

SKILLS & EXPERTISE

Our main competences are ocean engineering, advanced manufacturing, Structural Heath Monitoring, Electrical engineering, Human sciences on the entire value chain from research to offshore exploitation.

WEst Atlantic Marine Energy Community

The WEAMEC partners’ competences cover the whole innovation process, from conception and simulation, through tests on reduced scale prototype, up to real sea tests on SEMREV. All MRE technologies are concern: bottom fixed offshore wind, floating offshore wind, tidal energy, wave energy and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. WEAMEC also takes an active role in the innovation process thanks to partnerships with three clusters: founding partner Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique, EMC2 and S2E2. Their respective and complementary expertise in innovative manufacturing methods, ocean engineering and electrical engineering cover the entire value chain.

WEst Atlantic Marine Energy Community

CALL FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS

Thanks to these competences and facilities, the WEAMEC partners are currently involved in more than 500 regional, french, european collaborative projects… for more than 100 M€ only for the regional actors over the [2015-2020] period.

The calls for projects operated by WEAMEC enabled the selection of more than 80 research projects to be co-funded between 2016 and 2021, for a global budget 13 M€, involving 25 academic institutions and regional laboratories, about 20 SMEs and 10 industrials.

 

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TRAINING

WEst Atlantic Marine Energy Community

BROAD-BASED COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING

    • Training from operator to engineer level covering all disciplinary fields
    • 14 master’s and engineering courses covering all marine sciences
    • More than 300 students receiving initial training each year
    • 14 executive training modules 

 

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FORMATION CONTINUE “CERTIFICAT RÉFÉRENT EMR”

Centrale Nantes and the University of Nantes have created 22 Executive Education modules within the WEAMEC (West Atlantic Marine Energy Community) framework, dealing exclusively with the growing MRE (Marine Renewable Energies) sector.

This training provision is intended to give companies and their teams the key to understanding the overall environment of Marine Renewable Energies and how to fit into the emerging MRE market. They will have a comprehensive overview, understand concepts and vocabulary, be able to position the different actors, and finally to identify and understand the implications of their products on the value chain and consider their potential integration into technological components.

14 training Modules – intra and/or inter-company

  • One to three-day modules put together and delivered by a teaching team composed of academics and industry.
  • The modules have been tailored to meet two objectives: firstly, to expand company activity or help companies to enter this new market and secondly, to develop the trainees’ skills and employability.

 

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